Talk:Hetty Feather
Hetty was abandoned at the Foundling Hospital as a newborn baby. Children abandoned at the Hospital are fostered until the age of six, at that exact age they have to be returned to the hospital to start their education. Hetty spends her early years as a foster child under the care of Peg and John who she knows as her mother and her father. She is largely unaware that she will one day have to leave them. There are several other foster children in her home as well as Peg and John's own children. Jem, Nat, Rosie and Eliza are the pair's own children; whereas Martha, Saul and Gideon are foundlings. There are also Bess and Nora, who are away in service, and Marcus, who is a soldier. Hetty especially likes Jem, who is five years older than she is, and who treats her very kindly. Hetty is a fiesty, redheaded child who often gets into trouble but who is generally kind-hearted and loved by the family. Martha is the eldest of the fostered children, and is taken away back to the Foundling Hospital when she turns five. Initially, Hetty does not connect Martha's fate with her own future, until Saul is taken too; although she dislikes Saul, she cries when Peg takes the sobbing Saul away. Missing her foster-siblings, she demands to hear the truth. When Peg tells the other children about the Hospital, Jem promises Hetty that he will marry her once she is released around the age of fourteen. As Hetty gets older, a circus moves into town. There is a parade through the streets, and Hetty loves it; especially Madame Adeline, a redheaded lady dressed in scanty clothing who rides a horse. Hetty and Jem sneak to the circus, telling Gideon they are going into the woods to a tree Gideon fears, as he cannot be trusted with secrets. They creep in through the side of the circus tent and watch the show together. Towards the end, Madame Adeline performs and asks for a volunteer to come up and help her, and Hetty screams to be picked. She is, and performs on Madame Adeline's horse with her. The crowd cheer and clap as Hetty returns to her seat, excited that she had met Madame Adeline and that Madame Adeline had called her 'My Little Star'. Upon leaving the circus, Hetty is convinced that Madame Adeline is her mother, and wants to go back and meet her again, but Jem persuades her not to. When they arrive home, they find that Gideon has gone missing; after hours of searching, Gideon is found by the tree that Hetty had claimed they were going to, unconscious. He recovers but is greatly weakened and no longer speaks. Hetty feels horrendously guilty. A few weeks later, the time comes for Hetty and Gideon to be sent back to the Foundling Hospital. Everyone in the family is devastated, and Jem and Hetty promise to find each other again. Hetty is separated from Gideon upon arrival. The Hospital is a cruel, hard place with little love or compassion; however, Hetty eventually meets Ida, a friendly kitchen maid, Nurse "Winnie" Winterson, the nicest nurse on the staff, Harriet, an older foundling and Polly, a girl her own age who all make her time bearable. Hetty sneaks into the boys' quarter to check on Gideon and sees that both him and Saul are bullied by the other boys. During the flu season, Saul becomes very ill. Nurse Winnie sneaks Hetty to the boys' infirmary so she can see Saul and she comforts him, reminding him of home. The next morning, she is told that Saul died during the night. Several years later, Polly is adopted by a hospital benefactor. Eliza, Hetty's younger foster sister arrives at the hospital and Hetty is horrified to discover that Jem has made the same promises to Eliza that he had done to her. After these events, Hetty slips into an apathetic state, not caring whether she lives or dies. When Hetty is a little older, the children at the Foundling Hospital go to the Queen's Golden Jubilee. On the trip, Hetty sees a circus and believes its the one that Madame Adeline belongs to. When she discovers it isn't, Hetty manages to run away to find the right one and Madame Adeline along with it. Upon meeting her, Hetty is shocked to discover that Adeline is much older than she appears and that her red hair is a wig; Madame Adeline is kind to her but tells her she must return to the hospital. Hetty once again runs away, but stumbles into a bad district where she is nearly kidnapped by a sinister man, until an older flower girl named Sissy saves her. Sissy takes Hetty to her home, where she meets her terribly ill sister, Lil, and her drunkard father. Sissy and Hetty go out to sell flowers the following day, whereupon they are approached by a writer named Sarah Smith. Sarah takes Sissy and Hetty to a restaurant, where she asks questions for her new book "Penny for a Posy" and Hetty concocts an elaborate tale of her life as a flower girl. After asking her questions, Sarah Smith reveals that she is a new benefactor for the hospital and that she recognises Hetty as the girl who has run away, but praises her story-telling abilities. Sissy leaves and Sarah takes Hetty back to the Hospital after buying her ink and a book as a treat to record her memoirs. When Hetty is returned to the hospital, the kitchen maid Ida collapses upon seeing her. Sarah Smith tells the matron that Hetty was kidnapped and there is to be no punishment, which the matron has no choice but to obey. Hetty is allowed to visit Ida in her attic room, where Ida reveals that she is Hetty's mother and has been working at the hospital to look after her. Hetty's father is revealed to be a man with red hair as well as a sailor with whom she has no contact. Ida tells Hetty it must be their secret, as she will get sacked if she is found out and will no longer be able to see her. The book ends with Ida and Hetty planning a happy future together.